Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-20
Prostitution. Not Decadence.

Adam and Eve were unfortunate in
more senses than one. Their expulsion
from the Garden Of Eden was, OF course,
their greateet misfortune, but that they
could not complain that their age was
worse than the one that preceded them
was misfortune almost as great. The
people who have lived since the trouble
over the apple have enjoyed the luxury
OF declaring to one another that "the
times are not what they used to be-"
and it is doubtful If any agency, how
ever powerful, could induce them to give
up that luxury. 1.-THE times are not
what they used to be-" has been SAID with
reference TO almost everything under the
sun, and it is not singular, therefore, that
just now it should be said with reference
to the stage. Historical records mark
Colley Cibber, actor, playwright and lau-
reate, as the first to rail about the deca-
dence Of the stage, but his mourning in
sackcloth and ashes on account OF the
importation into England or lewd and
frivolous French dances was not cir
cumstance to the dismal bowls OF theat-
rical critics of to-day.
What is said in foreign countries OF the
decadence Of the stage is not of much in
terest to Americans, but what is said in
America is. Besides being chief source
of amusement, the stage is also a source
of instruction either for good or for bad.
Much OF its instruction, IN
fortunately, tends toward the bad,
but this is because vast
number Of reprehensible plays and play
ers have been unwarrantably 'dignified
by being declared a part of the stage.
The clowns, the so-called variety actors
and actresses, the people rendered noto-
rious by narrow escapes from punish
ment for crime, the society beauties who
have displayed themselves and their CO.'S
tunes before the public, are in no proper
sense part of the stage, and still less is
the miserable stuff, through which they
rant, part OF it. These are eXcrescences
just like the charlatans who sometimes
ind places in the pulpit are excrescences.
The stage in It's proper sense means
Booth and Barrett and Mary Anderson
and Modjeska and others OF that ilk, and
the plays in which they appear. The dis.
tinction being understood, there has been
spite of tradition, such stars as those
that have just been mentioned and the at
mosphere in which they scintIllate are
quite as good as any of preceding ages.
But, while there has been no decadence
of the stage, there has been a prostitu-
ton of it, The clowns, the so-called va
rlety actors and actresses, the people
rendered notorious by narrow escapes
from punishment for crime, the society
beauties who have displayed themselves
and their costumes before the public,
and the miserable stuff through which
they rant, combined with the unhealthy
appetite of the public, are responsible for
the prostitution.
Theatrical critics should b egin to learn
little common sense. They should
cease their dismal bowls about the deca-
dence of the stage, and direct their ener-
gies against its prostitution.
1t may not be possible to lop of all the
eXcrescences, but it is possible to pre-
vent their growth in the atmosphere Of
decency ana intellectual culture. This
may be done, in part, by telling the
truth about plays and players; and, in
part, by refusal to become the mere
advertising agents of the silly and often
vicious people who enormously call
themselves actors and actresses. The
stage, in its proper sense, notwithstand-
ing what may be said by very upright and
very prejudlced people, is a potent in
fluence for good. In its prostituted sense,
it is worse than the plague.